More severe cases of myalgic encephalomyelitis chronic fatigue syndrome in women shows study

Women with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) tend to have more symptoms and co-occurring conditions than men, according to initial results from the world’s largest study of the disease. The study reveals that women who have ME/CFS – a long-term neurological condition where an excessive increase in symptoms can be triggered by normal levels of exertion – for more than 10 years are more likely to experience increasingly severe symptoms as they age.

To aid their efforts, the study team from the University of Edinburgh is calling on more people with ME/CFS, aged 16 and over and based in the UK to take part in the study. Experts analyzed anonymous survey questionnaires from more than 17,000 people with ME/CFS. They included information on how long the respondent has had ME/CFS symptoms, when they were diagnosed, and whether they had any co-occurring conditions.

The study confirmed the well-established sex bias amongst ME/CFS patients, with women making up 83.5 percent of respondents. Two-thirds (66.7 percent) of women, and slightly more than half (52.7 percent) of men, reported at least one active co-occurring condition. Similarly, 39.2 percent of women and 28.6 per cent of men reported at least one inactive co-occurring condition.

The most common active co-occurring condition was irritable bowel syndrome (41.3 per cent), with clinical depression (32.4 per cent), fibromyalgia (29.5 per cent), anaemia (14.1 per cent) and hypothyroidism (12.8 per cent) also featuring prominently.

Women also reported, on average, more symptoms than men – 42 compared with 36.

The most common of these symptoms were brain fog – a term commonly used to describe the cognitive impairment experienced by participants – unrefreshing sleep, and muscle pain.

Reference: NIHR Open Research, DOI 10.3310/nihropenres.13421.4 , Typing myalgic encephalomyelitis by infection at onset: A DecodeME study